Welcome to the Woods
by nosirrah95
Summary: The stakeout has been going for 6 consecutive days, but suddenly, things take a turn for the worse. Something is in the woods, watching the team. Tires slashed, no cell service, they are stranded, but not alone...  Language warning, some swearing
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sorry about the first chapter being short, but I'm writing the next one RIGHT NOW! **

"This is _literally_ the most _painfully excruciatingly boring_ stakeout I have _ever_ worked on." Tony groaned. The team was scattered around the interior of a hunting cabin, a bare room, except for the laptop, table, camera, and a few folding chairs. The ground was cold, hard cement, echoing any footsteps that might have the chance to fall upon it. It was cold always, the frigid winter air sneaking in through the cracks in the walls, under the doorframe, and through the weak window panes.

"We heard you the first twenty-five times, Tony." Ziva snapped. She was cold, hungry, and _hated_ this assignment.

The assignment was camp out in a secluded hunting cabin. They were waiting for the suspect of their newest case, Donnie Ernhart, to return to him mountain escape, which was visible from the hidden cabin. They believed he was on the run. And now they had been cooped up in this cabin for 6 days.

"Ever seen _Deliverance_, Ziva?"

"Tony, I warned you abou-"

"Great flick. Excellent movie date."

"Tony, I sai-"

"'Squeal like a pig!'"

"TONY! I swear I will shoot you in the foot if you do not shut your hideously annoying nap."

"Trap."

"You know what, Tony?" Ziva stood, lowering the binoculars from their stubborn place on her eyes, speaking in a dangerously calm tone "I think I might actually kill you this time."

"I think that might be a break of protocol." Ziva made a strange, strangled squeak.

"You are going to drive. Me. In. Sane. "

"Probably."

"I'm just going to ignore you from now on." She said with an air of finality, and sat back down, crossed her legs, and returned the binoculars to their original position. After a few minutes of stony silence, the door flew open, revealing an absolutely freezing looking McGee, clutching a tray of coffees in one hand and a pizza box in the other.

"Thank God." Tony moaned hungrily, and grabbed for the box. McGee pulled it back.

"Ah, ah ah….ladies first." He handed Ziva a coffee, and then opened the box for her, while Tony glared dangerously at him. After Ziva had collected her food, he turned the box to Tony.

"Thanks, McManners. You're in charge of the infared now. I'll do the regular cam." He took a sip of the coffee and moved towards the tripod.

"Whoa!" McGee called as he sat in front of the laptop. "What the hell is that?" He stared at a figure moving along the screen, a large red and yellow blur contrasted with the blue and green background.

"Deer?" Ziva quipped. McGee shook his head.

"Nah, it's too big. Can you find it with the binoculars Ziva?"

"Maybe it's our guy?" Tony queried as he too, searched the horizon beyond the window for this mysterious figure.

"Nah, it's bigger, I think." McGee replied.

"I do not see anything." Ziva sang.

"I need the other binocs." Tim trilled and stood to go to the door. He opened it and swore.

"What?" Ziva and Tony answered simultaneously.

"The tires are slashed! What the hell?"

**A/N: Ohhh dear, this story just took a nasty turn...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Speedy update MUCH? **

"What?" Tony demanded "Are you kidding me?"

"No." Tim frowned, his voice anxious. "Damn. With no service, we are going to have to wait until Gibbs comes back."

"Which will be when?"

"I don't know. Zi, do you?"

"No, I thought it was just us on this one."

"Great. Just what the hell is out there?" Ziva turned back to the window, and her hand flew to the gun on her hip. A half a second later, Tony and McGee mimicked her motion. McGee nudged the door closed, and twisted the deadbolt locked.

"What?" Tony whispered. Ziva backed away from the window, her gun lowered but clutched tightly.

"I saw someone…something, coming towards the woods."

"I think we are suffering _major_ cabin fever." Tony concluded reassuringly.

"I think we've been compromised." Ziva whispered, and she peered out of the window cautiously.

"Ziva- you're overreacting." Tony said, trying to calm the frazzled Ziva. She shook her head.

"Tony, I know what I saw."

Tony crept over to the window, peering out as well. "Zi- there's nothing out there."

"Wait-" They watched the trees about a hundred yards from the cabin, all holding their breath. Suddenly, the trees tore apart, a huge deer bounding out of them. They all started, but then breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was just a deer." Tony addressed smugly.

"Yeah, the deer slashed the tires." McGee replied sarcastically. Tony didn't say anything.

"Okay, we need to just relax." Ziva said. "We can't get on each other's nerves right now. It is unwise to fight when we are in danger."

"Ziva, we don't know we are in danger yet." Tony chided. "We just know…that…someone wants to make sure we don't go-" he paused and thought about it "Yeah. We're in trouble."

"Look. We are three armed federal agents, don't you think whoever is bothering us would take that into account?"

"They might not know."

"But if we've been compromised…"

"We don't know that we have."

"But we do know that we're in danger don't we?" Ziva finished. "Look, I'm securing the perimeter.

* * *

Frank Gyle watched the door swing open, and the female walk down the creaky wooden steps. He smirked as one of the other male agents, tried to coax her back inside. She wasn't having that. "Good girl." He whispered. The male leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms. The next thing the woman shouted carried over to Gyle.

"Tony! I will be fine!" he put his hands up in defense as she waved her gun willy-nilly. So now that one had a name.

"Well, Anthony, your little girlfriend is up for the find of her life." Gyle chortled. The woman walked down the side of the house, and "Tony" had not taken his protective eyes off of her.

* * *

Ziva carefully peeked around the edge of the house. She turned around back to Tony and put a finger to her lips. She crept to the back wall, holding her gun out in front of her. She stopped, noticing a figure on the wood, and squinted up at it. She took a step back and indulged herself in a little gasp. Nailed to the wall was a dead fox. It was repulsive, it's eyes had been gouged out, and the blood was still fresh, dripping onto the layers of dead leaves at Ziva's feet. Hammered roughly to the corpse was a piece of paper. She reached up, hesitant to touch the fur, and pulled it down. The words inside did not surprise her too much.

_Welcome to The Woods _

**A/N: Bum, bum, bummmmmm. Review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: WHOAH! This is getting way too surreal for me, seriously, the response on this story had been EPIC. more story alerts than reviews, but...that's okayyy. Beggars can't be choosers! so...review! Review as though NCIS depended on it.  
Wait. No. Review as though TIVA depended on it...**

"Holy…" Tony trailed off as he stared at the mutilated animal attached to the house. "This is turning into a horror movie." He looked at the other two agents with an excited smile.

"'cept we're not promiscuous teenage girls and we have self defense." Ziva noted. He shrugged off the comment, and began bouncing on his toes excitedly.

"You know, I really don't like the feeling of this." McGee said as he observed the woods behind them. "We've got hardly any resources. I suggest we empty the trunk before someone else has a chance too."

"Excellent idea probie." Tony replied with a mock salute, turned, and marched to the car, pressing the button on the remote, the car letting out a long electronic _"beeeep."_ Ziva silently followed, examining every inch of the foreboding trees.

"I feel like we are being…watched." She proclaimed. "I do not like it."

"Oh-hoho!" Tony called "I forgot I put _this_ little ironic puppy in here." He whipped around a box and held it out to McGee and Ziva.

"What is it?"

"What is it? Oh my god, McGee, only THE best camping horror movie…_ever_."

""_The Blair Witch Hunt_"?" Ziva asked "I do not think it would be wise to watch a movie when we should be preparing for…what is out there."

"Oh the big bad monster is not going to attack armed feds." Tony sighed

"Maybe a monster won't, but a crazed woodsman might." McGee said.

"You two are SUCH buzz kills."

"Well watching a movie while we should be monitoring the woods, Tony, is not the best idea at the moment."

"You're not the best idea at the moment." He replied immaturely, with a pout in his lip. Ziva groaned and stomped her foot.

"You are _such_ a child sometimes, Dinozzo."

"Who's the one who just, uh…." He pointed at her boots "…stomped her foot at me?" She reached out to smack the back of his head, but he ducked. She sighed noisily and stormed into the cabin, while McGee and Tony began unloading the extra equipment.

* * *

"Yes, yes, you wouldn't want any suspicious persons unloading that truck now, would you, gentlemen…?" Gyle said under his breath. He twirled a thin hunting knife in between his thick, hairy fingers. The woman returned to the doorway, talking to the two. "What a pretty delicate little thing you are…" he whispered as she scanned the woods where he was currently staring at her through thick binoculars. He laughed lowly as her eyes flew right over where he was crouched. Now all he had to do was wait for night to fall.

* * *

"Zi, toss me a water bottle." Ziva glared back at Tony.

"What's the magic word?"

"Please." She chucked it at his head, harder than necessary. "What's wrong with you?"

"I do not think we are looking at this correctly."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Search the woods."

"For _what_ exactly?"

"Whoever put the masticated mammal on the house."

"I don't think we'll have much luck with that."

"I'm going." She said as she stood.

"No your not, not alone."

"Come _with_ me then." She replied as she put her hand on the doorknob.

"Ziva, no, it's better if we stay here." McGee interjected. She sighed.

"Neither of you are in charge of me." She squinted at them, and walked out of the cabin, clutching her gun tightly. She slammed the door shut with her hip.

* * *

"Ah, coming for a little visit, then, are we madame?" Frank smiled, and unzipped his gun bag.

**A/N: And, I am leaving you with a cliffy. Yayyyy! Yayyy for Cliffies! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Shnargh. If you are keeping up with my other story(ies), like Fallen, you may have already read that this is my busiest month, so my babies will be kept un-updated for a while. (My stories are my babies) but keep reviewing and reading and check my profile every once in a while to see changes and updates and my life there. Loves you all!  
And yes, I do know Tony is in charge of Ziva technically. But I can't see her following his orders. :) **

Ziva walked slowly, rolling from heel to toe, so as to make zero noise. She heard a twig snap a few feel to her right, and spun towards the noise, gun at the ready. She breathed, and considered returning to the cabin. But that would just prove Tony's point. She huffed, and kept walking. She had had the eerie feeling of being watched all weekend, and now with the dead animal, and the threatening note, she could not help but feel a little worried. Another twig snapped. She cocked her gun and gripped it tighter. She could not imagine feeling scared like this in years before, but her Isralie-agent-ness had been slowly wearing off. She was becoming a softie, and right now, her heart was beating too fast for comfort. Maybe it would be best to go-

"Whoa, there lady, don't shoot!" A voice said, almost causing her to, yes, fire at the noise. "Who're you and why's you holding that thing at me?" Ziva lowered slightly.

"Federal agent. Name?"

"Bartholomew Kiley…erm, why's you have a gun again?" Gyle lied through his teeth, his voice sounding harsh to his own ears with the assumed southern accent. Ziva shrugged.

"Precaution. Where do you live?"

"'Bout a mile or two up the road, looking fer my dog." He put his hands on his hips "Ya seen him anywhere?" she shook her head.

"It might be best if you look in the other direction; we have seen no dogs here." Now it was Gyle's turn to shrug.

"Right, well, you see a big 'ole 'coon dog, you tell 'em "RUN ON HOME NOW, SKEET." And he'll do just that, righ' there, mmhm." Ziva nodded and the man turned, and left. She lowered her gun all the way, and walked back to the house, leaves crunching underneath her combat boots. She threw the door open dramatically, causing both Tony and McGee to jump, who were both eyeing the screen.

"Citizen in the woods, I talked to him, he was looking for his dog." They both stared at her. "Well, seeing that we are all going to be here a while, I think I'm going to shower."

"I don't know if the hot water-"

"It works, McGee. I checked."

"We don't have any towels." Tony added. She shrugged.

"You have an extra shirt?"

"…yeah?"

"Let me use it then." He thought about this, then sighed, fearing what might happen if he didn't. He stood, opened his backpack, and took a crumpled up piece of clothing and tossed it at her. She unfurled it, and then snorted. "Tony?" she held out a pair of maroon boxers.

"Oops." He said with a smirk at himself, and tossed her an actual t-shirt. She returned the underwear, but not before giving him a good look up and down. She smiled, and turned to the bathroom door.

The shower had always been a bit of an escape for Ziva, the hot water and steam always made her feel happy, relaxed. As she listened to the movie from the other room, she thought about Tony's boxers…red…hmmm.

All at once, there was a loud sound of broken glass right next to her. Startled, she fell back, and hit her head on the wall behind her, hard. The last thing she heard was cracking and popping from the floor of the bathroom.

**A/N: Bum bum BUM! Gasp! Review! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Again, sorry for the crappy updates. Well, luckily for you, guess who gets two days off school?  
Yay for strep throat! **

Tony and McGee both jumped up at once from the sudden noise behind the old wooden door to the bathroom.

"You have got to be kidding me." Tony growled under his breath. "Zi!" he called through the door. No answer. Just some popping and banging noises.

"Sounds like a firecracker?" McGee whispered urgently.

"Ziva, are you really going to make me kick this down?" Tony called. No response. He sighed impatiently. She was probably on the other side, going to slice him for ever interrupting her while she was in the bathroom. "I swear to God Ziva if you-" The noises got louder. Tony smashed the door in with is foot. There was a firecracker, spinning around on the linoleoum, dancing in between the shards of broken glass. Tony ran to the now shattered window, and peered out. Just the gray woods and sky. Ziva lay curled in the bathtub, the shower curtain wrapped around her, her eyes closed, like she was sleeping. McGee turned off the shower and tried to step on the spinning firework.

"How do we get it to stop?" McGee yelled at Tony over the banging. Tony shrugged and bent to shake Ziva's shoulder gently. She stirred, and blinked up at him. After a moment, she jumped, and pulled the curtain around her tighter.

"What are you doing in here, Tony?" she shrieked. He jumped back, avoiding the firecracker, which was quieting down a bit now. A second later, it was silent.

"Zi, are you okay?"

"I'm fine! Get out!" She struggled to stand.

"Ziva, you hit your head-" McGee tried to say, but she held up her hand.

"Out." she demanded, and they backed into the living room. "Stay in there." she yelled after they were gone. She carefully unwarpped the soaking plastic sheet and threw it over the floor. Stepping down carefully, she struggled to pull on the clothes laying on top of the toilet tank. When she couldn't get her black tank top on, she just slid on Tony's shirt and her jogging shorts and walked into the living room, while tying her hair back in a bun. She ignored the white spots dancing in front of her eyes. "Okay." she said simply, and they spun around to her.

"Are you okay?" McGee asked.

"Im fine." she answered quickly and snapped the elastic, dropped her hands. "Whoever is screwing with us is serious. We need to take as many precautions as neccasary."

"Zi- your hea-"

"Tony, I said I am fine!" she yelled back. His face screwed up in worry. She scowled at him.

"Look. It is probably just some teenagers or something." Tony said finally.

"I do not think so." Ziva replied. "I think there is someone trying to get into our heads. Our tires are slashed, no service. Tony, we are trapped."

He didn't want to believe her words, but they were true.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm SO SO SO sorry to anyone who has been following any or all of my stories, but my updates have been so crappy. I really am. Anyways, please review, and story alert and author alert an all that JAZZ. **

When darkness spread over the woods, it began getting colder. Not an icy cold, but a dry cold that creeps up in your stomach and clenches onto your nerves, slowly chewing them away. The sky turned a purpley-orange, resembling the color of a bruise, while the three agents watched the woods nervously.

"This is just like Deliverance." Tony muttered for the sixth time this hour. A second later, an empty coffee cup bounced off the side of his head. "What?" he asked incrediously "it IS. We all know what happens next..." he begins in a soft voice "...we'll be sitting here when BANG!" he yelled the last word, causing McGee to jump. "What, McFradie-Cat, scared of the big, bad..." There was a distant howl before he could say the last word.

"Okay. You have to admit that was a little creepy." McGee noted. Tony rolled his eyes. Ziva peered through the binoculars at the forest beyond.

"I think someone should go and be the watch-"

"No." Ziva countered "It is better if we stay together. Trust me." it was quiet for a moment. "It is _freezing_ in here." Ziva hissed and stood. Seeing she was only weariing a T-Shirt and jogging shorts, she must have been. She walked to the door, picked up the car keys, and opened it.

"Where are you going?" Tony asked.

"To get my windbreaker."

"I brought everything in from the car already." she turned and searched the room with her eyes. There it was, laying across the couch. With a sigh, she closed the door again, cutting off the stream of cool air that had begun to creep around them. She pulled it over her shoulders and continued to gaze out the window. McGee's stomach rumbled audibly.

"Gross..." Tony said.

"Well, we have no food left. What am I supposed to do, _make_ my stomach stop rumbling."

"Do something to make it not make disgusting noises." McGee threw another coffee cup at his head.

"Stop it..." Ziva said distractedly. "I think I...see...something." she finished quietly, and took a step closer to the window. "Yes, there is _definetly_ something out there."

"We've known that for a while, Zee-_vah_."

"No, yes, I mean, look..." she pointed at the tree line. McGee stepped behind her and looked out, Tony following.

"I think it's just the wind..." McGee said in a whisper.

Suddenly, there were three loud bangs on the front door. They all jumped and spun to the front door, guns drawn. Tony was the first to move, and he crept over to the source of the noise.

"Zi-" he said, his voice barely audible. "Go out the window in the back room and cover him from behind." she nodded at dissapeared down the hallway. Tony counted backwards from three in his head...he heard the back window creak open...3...2...1! He flung the door open and...and nothing.

Nobody was there. He peeked around the corner, the wooden cabins walls were vacant as well.

"Federal Agents!" A voice cried from the back of the cabin. McGee and Tony sprinted towards the noise. The paused at the edge of the building, listening. "Put the gun...down." Ziva ordered from an undiscolsed location. She was standing behind the shed and neither McGee or Tony could get a visual. "I said...drop it. Put it down NOW!" she yelled, angrier. And then two shots rang out. Tony and McGee both sprang into action, and ran to the shed. When they sped around the corner of the small metal hut, Ziva was straddled on top of a struggling man's back.

"I don't have my cuffs on me." she barked at the two when they showed up. Tony walked to her, put his boot on the guys shoulder, and she rolled off. Tony cuffed the mysterious person and stood him up.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the reason for all our problems?" Ziva said. "Donnie Earheart."

"Who fired?" McGee asked. Ziva raised a hand.

"Someone would NOT drop the gun until I nearly had to shoot his hand off."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't"

"I ain't do nuthin wrong!"

"Oh, an English student, how quaint." Tony said sarcastically as he pushed him back to the house.

"I hope Gibbs gets here soon." McGee mumbled to himself as they returned to their fridgid cabin, suspect in tow.


End file.
